Ricky Anderson, 26, has been charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of his 26-year-old girlfriend Karmeshia Pipes, who was eight months pregnant with his child.

“This incident appears to stem from a domestic situation; however the investigation is ongoing,” police said.

The shooting occurred in the 1900 block of Sparks Street in South Memphis, not far from Elvis Presley Boulevard.

Relatives told police that they had been trying to reach Pipes for several days and she had been staying at Anderson's home on Sparks Street since Jan. 21, according to an arrest affidavit.

A friend went to the home Tuesday and knocked on the door. They said when there was no answer they used a key to get in and that is when they found Pipes dead in the home, according to the arrest affidavit.

Police said she had been dead in the home three or four days and investigators found a gun and shell casings on the scene, according to the affidavit.

Anderson was in the home, but when asked what happened he wouldn't answer any questions. No one else was in the home except Anderson and Pipes, police said.

Ricky Anderson(Photo: SCSO)

Police questioned Anderson and again he refused to answer questions and give a statement. Investigators said he had a fresh scratch or cut on his inner wrist.

After Pipes was found, police officers blocked off a section of the street of one-story homes Tuesday afternoon.

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Nathaniel Lee, 34, and Arerion Yarbrough, 30, speak with a group of reporters about the death of their relative, 26-year-old Karmeshia Pipes.(Photo: Daniel Connolly / The Commercial Appeal)

He said his sister worked in a warehouse and was due to give birth next week to her first child.

He described her as a loving person: “Kind, warm heart, helpful. Always giving. Always helping.”

He said relatives learned about the death Tuesday morning, but police hadn’t told him much about what happened.

According to Pipes' cousin, Arerion Yarbrough, 30, the expectant mother had already picked out a name for her unborn baby girl: Rickyiha. Yarbrough said she had recently attended the baby shower for the mother and child. “She was so happy. She was so happy! She was so excited. She made me go in, because I wasn’t going to go out of the car. I was going to pick up my son.”

Yarbrough said her cousin was cheerful, with a big personality. “She was a free-spirited person. You couldn’t miss her. She was always loud!” She imitated how her cousin would call out to her: “COUS-IN!”

Karmeshia Pipes holds up a bag that bears the name of her unborn baby daughter, Rickyiha.(Photo: Arerion Yarbrough)

She said other relatives told her about the death in the morning and she came over to the scene. She said she knows the suspect and that he’d been acting strangely at the baby shower — he was crying, she said.